Vasari Art Codex

museum exhibitions schedule Nov 17, 2025 visibility 3 link 7 artists, 3 galleries

art abu dhabi focus nigeria turkey 2712901

Abu Dhabi Art returns in 2025 with 142 galleries from 34 countries, introducing two new Focus sectors: Focus: Nigeria Spotlight and Focus: Modern Türkiye. The Nigeria section, curated by Tola Akerele, results from a collaboration between Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism, and the Creative Economy and the Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi, featuring seven galleries such as kò, SOTO Gallery, and the 1897 Gallery. Focus: Modern Türkiye, curated by Doris Benhalegua Karako, showcases rare works by modern masters like Fahrelnissa Zeid, Burhan Doğançay, and Gülsün Karamustafa, presented by Istanbul-based galleries including DG Art Gallery and Projects and BüroSarıgedik.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

museum exhibitions schedule Oct 16, 2025 visibility 4 link 5 artists, 2 galleries

Solidarity and shared optimism take centre stage at 1-54 fair in London

The 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London, held at Somerset House until 19 October, showcases a wide range of African and diaspora artists amid a surge of international attention on Nigeria's art scene. Galleries such as The 1897, O'DA Gallery, Circle Art Gallery, Everyday Lusaka Gallery, and Affinity Art Gallery present works by artists including Roisin Jones, Afeez Onakoya, Paul Majek, Simon Richard Ojeaga, Tiemar Tegene, Alick Phiri, and Samuel Nnorom. The fair highlights both Nigeria's contemporary art boom—bolstered by Tate Modern's Nigerian Modernism exhibition and the opening of the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) in Benin City—and the need to elevate artists from less-represented regions like East Africa and Zambia.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule Jul 3, 2025 visibility 1 link 2 artists, 1 gallery

mfa boston returns benin bronze robert owen lehman 1234746813

The Museum of Fine Arts Boston has returned two Benin Bronzes—a 16th/17th-century terracotta and iron Commemorative Head and a 16th-century bronze Relief Plaque—to the Kingdom of Benin. The works were looted by British soldiers during the 1897 attack on Benin City, later acquired by collector Robert Owen Lehman Jr., and donated to the MFA in 2013 and 2018. The repatriation ceremony took place on June 27 at Nigeria House in New York, with the items handed over to Prince Aghatise Erediauwa and Ambassador Samson Itegboje. The MFA closed its Benin Kingdom Gallery in April and noted that three other Benin works donated by Lehman remain in its collection pending further provenance research.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule Jul 3, 2025 visibility 1 link 2 artists

MFA Boston returns two works to Kingdom of Benin

The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Boston has returned two looted artefacts—a bronze relief plaque and a terracotta and iron head—to the Oba of Benin during a ceremony at Nigeria House in New York City. The works, stolen by British forces during the 1897 punitive expedition against the Kingdom of Benin, were traced to the collection of Augustus Pitt-Rivers and later acquired by investment titan Robert Owen Lehman, who donated them to the MFA in 2013 and 2018. The pieces will be handed over to Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments and ultimately to His Royal Majesty Omo N’Oba Ewuare II.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

gavel restitution schedule Jul 2, 2025 visibility 1 link 4 artists, 2 galleries

benin dialogue group ocotober 2018 1376824

Major European museums have agreed to loan important artifacts, including the Benin bronzes looted during the 1897 Benin Expedition, back to Nigeria for a new museum planned to open in 2021. The agreement was reached at a meeting of the Benin Dialogue Group in the Netherlands, involving representatives from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Britain, who committed to facilitating a rotating display at the planned Royal Museum in Benin City within three years, though specific objects and loan periods remain unconfirmed.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original